NAV EX 3rd QTR. 2017 NavEx 3rd Qtr 2017 - FINAL Draft - Page 16

Your Finest Hours
Continued from page 15
A Decision Is Made.
Fitzgerald continues: And then, there was about
eight people left up at the top… Bernie told me
that, I looked at Bernie, and thought: He is thinking
about something? What in the hell is he thinking?
He’s thinking we are already really overloaded… On
what we’ve got now, I could take off and go back,
back over the bar, drop these people off, come back
over the bar, and get these eight people. Then he
(Webber) said, what I thought was: Oh the hell with
it, we are all going to live, or we are all going to die. I
was hoping he was staying to get those eight people,
and he did.
are going to land. I am not sure exactly where we are
going to land. Put the boat on the land and we are all
going to jump off. Everybody says fine…
The Sea Claims Tiny Myers
So then, I went off that little hole I was in (the forward
compartment), and I went along the side, and a guy
that came down went in to the water. His name was
Tiny Myers (George Myers). He was about … maybe …
at the front of the boat, holding on to a line. We had
already downloaded several people from the tanker.
So I said: Tiny, come over to me, and we have people
that can lift you off, right here, on the side. But he
never did, and all of a sudden he disappeared…he
kind of floated away. I think he got crushed between
the boat and so he died. I did have hold of his hand
when he jumped on the boat, but then I didn’t hold
him. I just grabbed him and he slipped. He was a big
guy. Naked on the top and all that stuff, he was more
than a 300 pounder. So he died. But he was the only
one that died.
A Triumphant Return
JH
Do you remember what happened when you got
back in to Old Harbor?
AF
Yeah we come in, and I guess all of the people from
the town, they had heard that we had gone out, and
they all went down to Old Harbor. The movie shows
it, and I guess it is true that they put their lights on
all the cars that came down. They figured… they
didn’t know if we were coming back that way, or not,
or what the hell we were going to do. Bernie said:
We’re going to shoot for the coast and see where we
16
USCG Photo
USCG Photo
TOP: The Rescue Boat CG36500 returned to the Chatham Fish
Pier with 32 survivors of the tanker PENDLETON after the rescue
at sea. EN3 Andrew Fitzgerald is on the bow ready to handle the
tie up at the pier. The other three men are PENDLETON survivors.
ABOVE: Crew and survivors line up along the side of the boat to
climb ashore.
Webber Takes Care of His Shipmates
JH
Remember when they took you to Washington D.C.
to give you the gold medal? Remember that event.
Do you want to tell us about that?
NAVIGATO